Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the unexpected opportunity. I'm sure there'll be more speakers in the House in the very near future. I rise to make some comments on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2017-2018 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2017-2018. This gives me the opportunity to discuss the implementation of the cashless debit card. We know that, in the Senate, an amended piece of legislation was passed this week which, in my view, has let down the people of my electorate. We have been in an absolute battle to get the cashless debit card into our electorate for some seven or eight months. Unfortunately, with the politics of the Senate, the reversal of the position of the Labor Party and the position of the crossbench, the extension will go into the Goldfields. I certainly think that is much needed, but the reality is that we need to trial the cashless debit card in other places, particularly in larger locations. In my view, the benefits are enormous.

It's not just me; we've been talking to the community over the last seven or eight months and there have been dozens and dozens of meetings. Some of the criticism from those opposite has been around consultation. They claim that there hasn't been sufficient consultation, but I have yet to see anyone from that side stand up and say what it is they want that would meet their requirements. We sent out over 32,000 direct mail pieces and 5½ thousand emails. We made over 500 direct phone calls from my office to determine whether there was interest and support for the cashless debit card. Then the very professional people from the Public Service rolled out through the Department of Social Services to do their work on the ground, talking in particular to frontline service providers. What those frontline service providers said to them and to us is that it is supported. The reason is straightforward. I must admit, to me the position was a surprise, in terms of the cohort we were looking at. They were concerned about children in the electorate—in particular, that they were not being provided the basics of life. I think the cashless debit card can fill this very particular policy difficulty.

I understand that there are those who are idealistically opposed, and I accept that, but the reality is: what is the alternative? The alternative is that we do nothing. If we do nothing, there will be no change—no change for the people I represent, no change for the kids who are going to school hungry and no change for the people who are finding it difficult in their current circumstances, whether it's with drugs or alcohol or gambling. The reality is that this works.

What we see from those opposite is their position to do nothing. Their position is to stop what we're trying to do. I accept that there will be those who are idealistically opposed, but, if we do not make change and we do not make tough policy decisions, we are letting down a generation of kids in my electorate. It is for them that we are here. We must ensure that they have opportunities. This is not just a one-sided argument. We are looking at a change in policy which affects what people can purchase. Let's be very factual: it only limits the ability to buy drugs, gambling products and takeaway alcohol with cash. It is a visa debit card. It works at every EFTPOS machine, like any other card, unless of course we turn it off for a particular product.

What difference does it make to someone who might be under the age of 30 who uses a card every day? I'm sure you've seen them, Deputy Speaker Hastie. They go out, they use a card and they very rarely use cash. I think it makes very little change to the way they live their lives and what it is they do. The reality is that it stops money being poured down the pokies, it stops the purchase of takeaway alcohol and without cash you cannot buy illicit substances. That is one side of the equation. In the middle, we have a requirement for more drug and alcohol support. There was a commitment, if the cashless debit was rolled out in my electorate, to provide another $1 million for that support into my electorate. That's on top of the services which we already have. That $1 million is absolutely critical when we look at policies like the cashless debit card.

The next point is around jobs and the economy. If you do not have work, then clearly there is a claim that there is nowhere to go. We continue to build the economy and we continue to invest money into the electorate, but the reality is that we do need to do more. What are we doing right now? We have Regional Jobs and Investment Packages—some $20 million committed at the 2016 election, which is available for organisations to apply for, particularly for large infrastructure investments in private organisations. This is a different policy to our position on many, many other types of funds which we use in the electorates. I'm aware of a number of applications. They will add hundreds of jobs into our electorate—not five or 10 jobs, but hundreds of jobs. What I know as someone who comes from business—someone who has actually worked in the workforce for many, many years, has run their own business, has had farms, has had small businesses, has had consulting firms and has had registered training organisations—is that it's business that provides jobs. Government can set the structures to help make them successful, but it is business that provides jobs in our economy. And they are going pretty well at the moment, but it's rocks and diamonds. We have to make sure that we spread the love across the entire nation. Those opportunities are there right now.

Let's look at some of the things which have happened with the Building Better Regions Fund, for example. We funded a project which will be run by an organisation called Pacific Tug at the Bundaberg port. This investment will allow the project to be brought forward. It will create over 100 positions. The proposal from Pacific Tug is that they will provide a maintenance base for that fleet, particularly for barges into the Pacific, and of course to all of those ships under a particular weight limit that run up and down the east coast. The expectation is that they will build a 1,200 tonne ship lift that will provide the capacity into their hardstand to do maintenance on ships up to that weight level. That includes some defence products—and I'm sure you're interested in defence, Mr Deputy Speaker Hastie. I believe you have a very strong background in and a very strong understanding of defence. I think the ability for those ships to stop in a small port in a regional centre like Bundaberg to be restocked and refitted and have their maintenance done and providing all of the things that you need to ensure that those defence assets continue to work for Australia and continue to be absolutely functional while also adding to our economy is in the best interests of all of us. Pacific Tug continues to move forward.

I was down there last week. We're looking at other opportunities around the Bundaberg port. I will say something which I'm sure those opposite will be very surprised at: I congratulate the state Labor government on naming the Bundaberg port area as a state development area. An SDA provides opportunities for people looking to invest, and it is a real economic driver for our region right now. In my view, the potential is there for a container port in one of the last remaining positions on the east coast where we can invest in a large infrastructure facility, because that land is available. There is over 4,000 acres available around the Bundaberg port. We can build that container facility, we can build for something into the future, we can provide that infrastructure which is necessary to build our economy and, of course, we can provide jobs which are desperately needed in what is a pretty tough area for this nation.

The Bundaberg port is just one location where we can actually build our economy locally. One of the others, of course, is around a proposal for a level 5 training hospital. It's something I've spoken about before. Just last week there was a memorandum of understanding signed between the Bundaberg Regional Council, one of the private health providers and the Central Queensland University for a medical precinct opposite the Bundaberg Airport. As we all know, and I'm sure everyone in this chamber has heard before, unfortunately there was a very terrible incident at the Bundaberg Base Hospital involving Dr Jayant Patel some 10 years ago. Now, that has clearly been a very difficult period of time for those people who worked there, but they've worked through it. One of the greatest things that we could provide into that region would be a level 5 training hospital—one with the capacity to attract specialists in many fields; one which will allow the service of a population of some 280,000 people from Rockhampton to Gympie. They could be serviced and get much better benefit for their health from a level 5 training hospital based in Bundaberg.

In the southern end of the electorate, around Hervey Bay, there are tourism opportunities to burn—whether you want to see the whales, whether you want to travel to Fraser Island or whether you just want to come and relax in what is one of the safest locations in Australia on the east coast, because it's protected by the Fraser Coast. One of the things the local council is working on right now is a fishing hall of fame and a museum for HMAS Tobruk. For those who might not know, HMAS Tobruk is being sunk. It'll be scuttled in late June this year around 15 nautical miles off the coast at Woodgate Beach. That will add to our tourism infrastructure. That will provide more opportunities for people to come to our electorate to see this fabulous piece of diving infrastructure. But we need something for the land based tourists as well—for those who might not dive, for family members—and I think that museum will be a unique opportunity for the Fraser Coast Regional Council and of course all the tourism operators on the Fraser Coast. Given that we have more people lined up to talk on the appropriation bill, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak and commend the bill to the House.

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